BMF: One Voice On EU

The BMF (British Motorcyclists Federation) reports that it continues to represent motorcyclists’ interests at governmental level.

The BMF say that, “The government consulted the British Motorcyclists Federation for their recent report, Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

The report addresses whether the EU has too much power over transport.

The BMF is the voice of motorcyclists at a governmental level, fighting for their interests to be included in policy.

It is clear from the report, and the inclusion of much from the BMF that the government are listening.” (sic)

One point accepted by the government report referred to the free movement of people and vehicles. The BMF’s comment states that:

“Membership of the European Union has been hugely beneficial to motorcyclists in a number of ways with various bits of legislation encouraging and supporting tourism and travel by motorcycle. The free trade aspects and the membership of a trading bloc with common rules for products have helped as well.”

There was also strong support from the BMF for technical harmonisation in a global context. With the cost of development of motorcycle models, as well as that of production, “the chances of UK consumers having access to the different models available without a free trade area and market harmonisation are slim to none.”

The report uses Honda as an example to illustrate how the company sells millions of motorcycles around the world, but developing a UK-specific model to sell just over 2,000, would be “simply bad business”.

(RTR comments:Although it is not clear why the UK would have a specific model rather than what is available in the rest of the world considering both the EU and the UK both have input into the UNECE – United Nation Economic Commission for Europe – and specifically the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) – World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) ).

One concern raised by the BMF was that if the UK left the EU, the UK would not have any input into the rule making yet would still have the same products as does Norway and Switzerland. (That’s not quite true, the difference would be that the UK could import without EU imposed restrictions from countries such as India and the US for example. Also, note that both Norway (NMCU – www.nmcu.org) and Switzerland (IG Motorad – www.ig-motorrad.ch) are rider organisations that are members of FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations – www.fema-online.eu and therefore have a voice within Europe).

Reading through the report the BMF also commented that, “Membership of the European Union has been hugely beneficial to motorcyclists in a number of ways with various bits of legislation encouraging and supporting tourism and travel by motorcycle. The free trade aspects and the membership of a trading bloc with common rules for products have helped as well.”

The Down Side of EU Membership

Issues regarding the motorcycle training industry were also addressed.

The BMF feels that the EU lacks enough knowledge to be fully effective and instead makes unrealistic policies. It believes that EU action has “over-reached on the road safety issues” and has “decimated the availability of motorcycle training in the UK and halved the number of test candidates entering into motorcycling”. (See comment below regarding Northern Ireland.)

To resolve these problems, the BMF, along with other motorcycle representative bodies, would like to see these responsibilities delegated back to national authorities.

On training the BMF also commented, “The British Motorcyclists Federation considered that the EU lacked the knowledge to be fully effective in this field and this had led to unrealistic policies” and that the view of the British Motorcyclists Federation was that, “EU action has ‘over-reached on road safety issues’, and has ‘decimated the availability of motorcycle training in the UK and halved the number of test candidates entering into motorcycling.”

The MCI (Motor Cycle Industry – www.mcia.co.uk) agreed and commented, “The view of the MCI, the changes to the motorcycle test implemented in 2009 have been ‘nothing short of disastrous.”

Note that when the 3rd Driving Licence Directive was implemented, the UK government chose the more rigid options of training riders to pass the test rather than assessing them on experience gained over two years, as was implemented in other EU countries.

With regards to the 2nd Driving Licence Directive, it was the UK government’s choice to introduce multi-purpose test centres, thus requiring riders to travel long distances to take the test. This was not a requirement under the European Directive, but the UK government’s choice.

Furthermore with regards to the comment about the “decimation of the availability of motorcycle training etc, that may be the case in GB, but from what we have heard, here in Northern Ireland no “decimation” has taken place, at the moment it would appear that new riders taking CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) and female riders are on the up in Northern Ireland.

Round Up – Our Voice

A Gold Star for the BMF for submitting written evidence and attempting to provide a considered opinion about the European Union in terms of motorcycling.

However from our own perspective in reference to the comment that – “BMF is the voice of motorcyclists at a governmental level”, that’s wishful thinking on their part – because it is not the only voice out there and the time of giving importance to one rider organisation’s voice as the only representation is, well, old hat, jaded and just not true.

While government may be listening or perhaps just reporting what has been said, one joined up voice for motorcycling or at least one opinion shared by all and informed to all, is a much better case to put to Government!

So we have to ask – are the days of independent riders’ rights organisations now outdated?

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